MOBILE VERSUS PASCAGOULA

Ports take opposite approaches to passenger plan

THE ALABAMA STATE PORT AUTHORITY’S

Terminal Railway Alabama State Docks short line has sided firmly with CSX’s opposition to passenger service, rather than acknowledging economic and mobility benefits for downtown Mobile. The authority’s unsolicited filing to the STB contends port rail operations would be harmed, even though Amtrak’s brief appearances in downtown Mobile would barely impact sporadic switching moves past the station to the McDuffie terminal near Choctaw Yard south of downtown. At the least, the port wants passenger trains banished to the Brookley Aeroplex location.

Forty miles west, the Port of Pascagoula has taken the opposite approach. Since 2015, the Mississippi port successfully solicited more than $23 million in matching funds from the city, the Southern Rail Commission, and Mississippi’s Department of Transportation in obtaining two federal infrastructure grants totaling $53 million. The money paves the way to move CSX’s interchange with the short line that serves the port, the Mississippi Export Railroad, away from downtown to property the port owns north of Pascagoula.

“Years ago, CSX asked us to help pay to move the interchange [since] that would allow a passing track to be built, accommodating passenger rail without tying up the main line during the switching operation,” Port Director Mark McAndrews recalls on a tour of the tracks where an MSE local has just dropped some cars. Deputy Port Director Sandy Feathers adds, “It also means we can improve the quality of life by abandoning 7 miles of track through Pascagoula neighborhoods, eliminate 16 grade crossings, and permit the MSE and CSX to jointly handle a wood pellet unit train to transload at the port. All this would not have been possible with a downtown interchange,” she says.

This is just one of many grants secured to help start the service, as shown below. Once the project is complete, a passing track can be built opposite the city’s venerable station, where a 1984-vintage Gulf Coast Limited sign still hangs. Arrival and departure times are blanked out — for now. — Bob Johnston

The Port of Pascagoula, Miss., is taking steps to move a shortline interchange away from the station where Gulf Coast trains would stop. A new platform will be needed.